Ruling NDA's Ram Nath Kovind is pitted against opposition candidate Meira Kumar in the race to the country's top constitutional post.

Special pens have been supplied by the EC for the lawmakers to cast their votes on ballot papers both in Haryana and Punjab assembly complexes.

A poster carrying detailed instructions with regards to the polling, including asking the MPs and MLAs to mark their votes only with the designated pen for the purpose, has been put up near the entry gate of the Haryana Assembly.

The AAP has announced its support to former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar. However, citing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, senior AAP leader H S Phoolka, who is a legislator from Punjab, did not participate in the polling today.

AAP's ally the Lok Insaaf Party had earlier announced its support to Kovind.

The Congress, which stormed to power in Punjab in March after a gap of 10 years, has 77 MLAs in the 117-member state Assembly, while the AAP has 20 and the Lok Insaaf Party two.